West African Chicken-Peanut Stew + Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake (week of December 28 - January 3)

West African Peanut Stew

My older daughter got this spicy, and very easy, recipe from her friend and made it for my birthday. And then made it again, by universal request, the following week.


Prepare

• 2 cups uncooked rice

cooked in

• 4 cups water
• pinch salt

In large skillet, over medium heat,

• 4 Tablespoons Oriental (dark) sesame oil

Add

• 2 cups (or more) diced chicken breast
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic

and sauté over medium heat until onion is translucent and chicken is cooked.
Add

• 1 Tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• ½ to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 6 cups chicken broth
• ½ cup tomato paste
• 1 (15 oz.) can chopped stewed tomatoes
• ¼ cup plus 2 Tablespoons chunky peanut butter

Heat through, but don't boil. Serve hot with rice.


Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake

My younger daughter made my favorite cake to hold (all!) my candles. This recipe is adapted from one in Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook. The original has a full pound of butter and 3 cups of sugar, but this version is plenty rich - and so good with the blueberries we picked this summer.

Preheat oven to 325° and lower the oven rack. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 10-inch tube or bundt pan.

In a large bowl, at high speed, cream together until light and fluffy

• 1¼ cups butter, softened
• 2 ½ cups sugar

Add, one at a time, beating well after each,

• 6 eggs

then set aside.

Sift together in a separate bowl

• 4 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

Mix in another bowl

• ¾ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

Add dry and wet alternately to butter mixture, mixing by hand – just enough to blend thoroughly without beating, beginning and ending with dry. Before adding the last of the dry, toss lightly in it

• 2 cups frozen blueberries

then fold into the batter gently.

Spread batter into the buttered pan. Bake 60 minutes or more, until a sharp knife inserted all the way down comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a plate. Cool as long as you can before slicing.